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Practical Guide

In plan view, the identically Y-shaped chain links are similar in appearance to a tuning fork with the fork end leading. The tail of the preceding link fits into the fork of the succeeding link. The links are held together by pins that are pushed through holes in the sides of the fork and tail. The pins pass through all the tracks and chains, and the ends fit into grooves in the serrated flanges of the pattern drum so that as the drum turns, the chain links are advanced in unison in a correct...

Laying-in is achieved in warp knitting by causing a guide bar to only underlap its threads will be held in the technical back of the structure only if a guide bar in front of it is overlapping. The yarn will inlay on top of the overlaps during knitting so that, as the guides of the knitting bar swing through the needles for the next overlap, their underlaps will be laid on top of the inlay yarn, trapping it into the back of the fabric (Fig. 27.1). An inlaid yarn may pass across part or all of...

Tubular, seamless, extensible nets for fishnet patterned stockings, fruit sacks, and medical support bandages can be knitted on simple, small-diameter circular warp knitting machines. The vertical latch needles are fixed to the needle cylinder, collectively rising and falling with it. They are in a conical arrangement so the hooks form a smaller circle than the stems. The warp yarn is supplied through guide-eyes drilled in a ring. The ring turns to overlap the hooks when the needles are raised...

The turned welt of doubled plain fabric that is produced on stocking frames is usually less acceptable for the start of a garment panel - a rib border is often preferred. Straight bar rib frames have been built but they have proved to be complex and uncompetitive against faster and more versatile V-bed rib flat machines. A popular technique is to knit the rib borders or cuffs on a specific-purpose V-bed flat machine and then to transfer them, using the last required course, loop-by-loop onto...

Linking is the conventional method of toe closing that occurs after knitting during making-up. A slacker course of loops on the instep is joined loop-to-loop to a similar course in the toe pouch, by stitching on a linking machine. This is, however, an expensive, relatively slow and skilled operation. In Rosso linking, the fabric to be joined is guided by a conveyor guide onto dial points and is seamed from opposite sides, but the join is not exactly on one course nor is there an individual...

The unique loop structure of knitting provides opportunities for using a minimum number of yarns. easy flow of yarn from one loop to another under tension. loop distortion when under tension. knitting single face, double face, open-work and surface interest structures. increasing or decreasing the number of loops in width or depth. knitting to shape either fabric pieces or separate articles. knitting from a selection of yarns. engineering extensibility or stability. introducing (by inlay) yarns...

Weft knitting, using the fingers to produce open loop structures, may well have been practised long before the use of hand-held pins. Hand pin knitting was first recorded in religious paintings in 1350 in Northern Italy. It then spread through the rest of Europe 2 . Maitre Bertram's painting of Mary knitting Christ's seamless garment (Fig. 2.1) is dated to just before 1400. Unfortunately, Christ's garment is more likely to have been made by the 'sprang' or braiding technique, in a similar...

Knitted structures are progressively built-up from row after row of intermeshed loops. The newly-fed yarn is converted into a new loop in each needle hook. The needle then draws the new loop head first through the old (fabric) loop, which it has retained from the previous knitting cycle. The needles, at the same time, release, (cast-off or knock-over) the old loops so that they hang suspended by their heads from the feet of the new loops whose heads are still held in the hooks of the needles. A...

The most important use of electronics is in microprocessor and computer systems. A computer can receive, store, retrieve, and communicate enormous quantities of information at phenomenal speeds. It can also manipulate, rearrange, select, and transform this information. It performs arithmetical or logical processes accurately at high speed after receiving the instructions (programme) and values (data) without the need for further intervention by the operator. Flexibility in processing of data...

The principles governing design areas apply to all wheel selections, including sinker-wheels with plush and plain plating sinkers, provided that their set-out remains unchanged during knitting (Fig. 11.10). The wheels are generally of the same size and gauge on the same machine. The needle producing the starting wale of the design is marked and, as the cylinder turns during the first revolution, it will align with the marked starting trick of each wheel in turn, to ensure that their selections...

The pattern wheel is a cheap, simple device occupying little space, and is unique in employing separate raising cams, in the form of pattern bits, to select and move individual elements, if necessary, to three different positions in their tricks (Fig. 11.9). It is most popular in single-jersey machines, either as an inclined wheel for needle or point selection, or as a horizontal wheel for plush sinker selection. The pattern set-out, which is unchanged during knitting, uses bits which are...

Productivity (P) is expressed in pattern rows per minute. In warp knitting this is the same as courses, but in weft knitting a pattern row may be composed of more than one course (feed). In warp knitting, P R x e, where R is the number of camshaft revolutions per minute and E is the machine efficiency. In weft knitting, P F x R or T x (e c), where F is the number of active yarn feeds, R or T the number of machine revolutions or cam-carriage traverses per minute, and C the number of courses or...

In warp knitting machines, all elements of the same type (needles or sinkers or guides of one guide bar) act as a single unit and are therefore fitted into, and controlled from, an element bar. Each guide in the same (conventional) guide bar requires the same warp-yarn feed rate and tension. This is most conveniently achieved by supplying a large number of parallel ends of warp yarn to the guide bar from a warp beam. The shogging movement of the guide bars is controlled from one end of the...

Four primary structures - plain, rib, interlock and purl - are the base structures from which all weft knitted fabrics and garments are derived. Each is composed of a different combination of face and reverse meshed stitches, knitted on a particular arrangement of needle beds. Each primary structure may exist alone, in a modified form with stitches other than normal cleared loops, or in combination with another primary structure in a garment-length sequence. All weft knitted fabric is liable to...

In 1867, Henri Edouard Dubied acquired the European rights for Lamb's machine (see Section 18) during the Paris Exhibition and established his knitting machine building company. Similarly, in 1873, Heinrich Stoll, a German engineer, began to build and repair Lamb machines and by the early 1890s he was not only building improved versions of the rib machine but also flat bed purl machines of a similar standard of perfection 1-3 . The company founded by Stoll continues to play an important part in...

There are three methods of forming the newly-fed yarn into the shape of a needle loop 1 (Fig. 4.1) - by sinking the yarn into the space between adjacent needles using loop forming sinkers or other elements which approach from the beard side. The action of a straight bar frame is illustrated. (Other obsolete circular bearded needle machines such as the sinkerwheel and loopwheel frame employ the same technique.) The distance SL, which the catch of the sinker moves past the beard side of the...

Originally, the term 'machine' used to refer to a mechanism on a bearded needle frame such as the fashioning mechanism on the straight bar frame. Today, it refers to the complete assembly. A knitting machine is thus an apparatus for applying mechanical movement, either hand or power derived, to primary knitting elements, in order to convert yarn into knitted loop structures. The machine incorporates and co-ordinates the action of a number of mechanisms and devices, each performing specific...

In weft knitting, the term 'course length' refers to the measurement of a straight length of yarn knitted by all or a fraction of the needles in the production of a particular course. It consists of the stitch length multiplied by the number of needles knitting that stitch length. It may be measured at a yarn feed during knitting or after unroving the yarn from a knitted fabric, either as a complete course length or from the counted wales between two vertical cuts in the fabric. In Fig. 6.1,...

Occasionally parts of both knitting techniques are combined in a single machine generally, however, the techniques have tended to diverge to produce entirely separate industries each having its own specialist technology, machine builders, fabric characteristics and end-uses. Weft knitting is the more diverse, widely spread and larger of the two sectors, and accounts for approximately one quarter of the total yardage of apparel fabric compared with about one sixth for warp knitting. Weft...

The application of microprocessor controls has removed the need for mechanical timing chains and control drums on the latest electronically-controlled hosiery machines. The machine's microprocessor memory can accommodate a range of sizes and styles that can be quickly recalled when a change is required. On mechanically-controlled machines, the changes are timed by the links of a timing chain that also control the racking of a control shaft to which are attached the control cam-drums and wheels...

The three directions of motion required for the knitting action are provided from two separate sources. The rotary motion of the cam-shaft produces the vertical and horizontal movement of the fashioning points and the needle bar. The sideways reciprocating movement for the yarn carriers and for introducing the sinkers in serial sequence via the slurcock is obtained from a coulier or draw cam attached to a shaft, set at right angles to the main cam-shaft at the back of the machine, which...

Weft knitting machines may be broadly grouped according to end product as either circular machines, knitting tubular fabric in a continuous uninterrupted length of constant width, or flat and circular machines, knitting garment-length sequences, which have a timing or counting device to initiate an additional garment-length programming ('machine control') mechanism. This co-ordinates the knitting action to produce a garment-length structural repeat sequence in a wale-wise direction. The garment...

The fineness of the needles and sinkers relied heavily on the developing skills of English mechanics, a skill which was lacking on the continent of Europe at that time. Lee's original invention, although workable, was not economically viable as it required two men to operate it. Improvements were carried out and by 1620, Aston, a former apprentice of Lee's, had arranged the sinkers into alternating sets and thus, with skill and precision, had obtained better uniformity of loop length, much...

Electronic devices process information as binary digital logic signals that exist in two states, ON or OFF. This can be directly translated as 1 or 0, YES or NO, TRUE or FALSE, or magnetic ATTRACTION or REPULSION. This information can just as conveniently be translated into knitting states such as KNIT or TUCK, TUCK or MISS. The binary digits can be arranged in the form of a programme where they can be encoded and converted into symbols to compose, for example, a knitting design or a machine...

All guide bar lapping movements are composed of one or more of the following lapping variations (Fig. 23.5) 1 An overlap followed by an underlap in the opposite direction (closed lap) (Fig. 23.5a). 2 An overlap followed by an underlap in the same direction (open lap) (Fig. 23.5b). 3 Only overlaps and no underlaps (open laps) (Fig. 23.5c). 4 Only underlaps and no overlaps (laying-in) (Fig. 23.5d). 5 Neither overlaps nor underlaps (miss-lapping) (Fig. 23.5e). Movements 4 and 5 require the...

Up to four pattern bars can be 'nested' together so that their guides converge into the same displacement line. They swing as a single guide bar but they are shogged independently, although guides of bars in the same nest cannot cross or approach within two needle spaces of each other Fig. 28.3 . On the 42-bar lace raschel, thirteen displacement lines are available. The front two are conventional guide bars for knitting the ground, the next may be a conventional bar for draw-threads when...

Munden first suggested the use of a factor to indicate the relative tightness or looseness of plain weftknitted structure, to be used in a similar manner to that of the cover factor in the weaving industry. Originally termed the cover factor but now referred to as the tightness factor TF , he defined it as the ratio of the area covered by the yarn in one loop to the area occupied by that loop. The total area covered by yarn is S x l x d, if l is loop length in mm and d is yarn diameter in mm...

Generally, patterns are produced in weft knitted structures either in the form of selected colours for face stitches or surface relief patterns based on a choice of different types of stitch. As illustrated in Fig. 3.4, the height to which a latch needle is lifted in its trick determines which stitch will be knitted. If all needle butts are in the same position on the needle stems and they pass over the same cam profile, a plain fabric will be knitted, with all stitches having the same...

Double-faced structures are produced in weft and warp knitting when two sets of independently-controlled needles are employed with the hooks of one set knitting or facing in the opposite direction to the other set. The two sets of needles thus draw their loops from the same yarn in opposite directions, so that the fabric, formed in the gap between the two sets, shows the face loops of one set on one side and the face loops of the other set on the opposite side. The two faces of the fabric are...

Three-dimensional 'turned' heel and toe pouches Fig. 21.4 are knitted in plain so that, in the case of double-cylinder machines, the heel section needles must be transferred down to knit from the bottom cylinder. A spring take-up holds the surplus yarn as the needles traverse towards the feed on the return oscillation, whilst a pouch tension equaliser ensures that the pouch fabric is held down on the needle stems. The pouch is preferably knitted in single feed so that the other feeds if there...

The underlap shog occurs across the side of the needles remote from the hooks on the front of single-needle bar, and in the centre of double-needle bar, warp knitting machines. It supplies the warp yarn between one overlap and the next Fig. 5.3 .The underlap shog generally ranges from 0 to 3 needle spaces, but it might be 14 needle spaces or more depending upon the design of the machine and the fabric structure although efficiency and production speed will be correspondingly reduced with long...

Colour is one of the five ingredients of fashion, the other four being style, silhouette, texture and pattern 1 . Ornamentation for design purposes may be introduced at the fibre, yarn, or dyeing and finishing stage, as well as at the knitting stage. Apart from different colours, it may take the form of sculptured or surface interest. In fibre form it may include a variation of fibre diameter, length, cross-section, dye uptake, shrinkage, or elastic properties. In yarn form it can include fancy...

The following are the basic rules when employing part-threaded guide bars for the production of nets, cords and relief designs During a normal knitting cycle, every needle must receive at least one overlapped thread but it is not necessary for the same guide bar to supply every needle or for every needle to be overlapped by the same number of threaded guides. The guide bar threading for one width repeat is usually shown in its correct relative position between the needle spaces at the first...

In hand crocheting, a hook is used to draw a new loop through the old loop with the chains of loops being joined together at intervals. On crochet machines, the warp chains are separate from the weft inlay and it is the latter threads that join the chaining wales to each other. The crochet galloon machine, as developed by Sander and Graff and popularised by Kholer, is essentially a highly versatile raschel with the following unique features Figures 24.8 and 24.9 A single horizontal needle bar...

Figure 17.5 a-f illustrates the fashioning action for either narrowing or widening a The fashioning points descend and the needle bar tips backwards to clear them. b The needle bar moves towards the points, causing the beards of the needles engaged with points to be pressed and 'boxed' or located in the grooves of the points. c The sinkers and dividers, which are collectively controlled by the catch bar, retire, and the needles and points descend together below the knocking-over bits, so that...

As mentioned in Section 4.3.2, yarn feeding involves either a moving the needles past the stationary yarn feed or b moving the yarn past the stationary needle bed. When the yarn moves past the needles, the fabric will be stationary because the loops hang from the needles. This arrangement exists on all warp knitting machines, and on weft knitting machines with straight beds and circular machines with stationary cylinders and dials. On straight machines of both weft and warp type, the...

Of all knitting machines, the modern electronic V-bed flat machine, with its comprehensive patterning and garment shaping facilities, offers the greatest challenges as well as the greatest opportunities for the application of a CAD CAM system Fig. 12.3 . Interactive computer graphics enables a dialogue to occur between the operator terminal and the system, with the resulting development of the design being immediately visually represented on the screen. The position is defined and located by...

Fig. 16.9 Integrally shaped rib garment pieces. The machine has an additional bed containing the transfer points Shima Seiki . 2 Convert the width dimensions at the start of each section to total numbers of needles by multiplying the width measurement by wpi. Thus, 16 x 16 256 18 x 16 288 8 x 16 128 needles. 3 Calculate the total number of needles increased or decreased from one section to another by taking one total from the next. 4 Divide the totals obtained by 2 in order to obtain the...

The other type of cam, the angular knitting cam see Fig. 3.4 , acts directly onto the butts of needles or other elements to produce individual or serial movement in the tricks of a latch needleweft knitting machine. a Revolving cylinder machines - the needle butts pass through the stationary cam system and the fabric hanging from the needles revolves with them. b Reciprocating cam-carriage flat machines or rotating cam-box circular machines - the cams with the yarn feeds pass across the...

Loops are termed 'laps' in warp knitting because the warp guides lap their yarn around the needles in order to form the loop structure. The loops overlaps may be open or closed. On the original warp frame as on many present-day crochet machines , the needle bar was in a horizontal and not a vertical position, with its beards facing upwards Fig. 5.2 .To produce a needle loop it was thus necessary to swing the guide upwards and shog it over the needle hook hence the term 'overlap' which refers...

On hosiery machines without positive feed, the distance between the top of the needle head at knock-over and the loop-supporting belly of the sinker will determine the length of loop that is drawn. On single-cylinder machines, the sinkers are in a bed fixed to the head of the needle cylinder so that any raising or lowering of the cylinder will affect the loop length. A gradual lowering of the cylinder produces graduated stiffening. On electronically-controlled machines, this is achieved by step...

Textile fabrics can be produced directly from webs of fibres by bonding, fusing or interlocking to make non-woven fabrics and felts, but their physical properties tend to restrict their potential end-usage.The mechanical manipulation of yarn into fabric is the most versatile method of manufacturing textile fabrics for a wide range of end-uses. There are three principal methods of mechanically manipulating yarn into textile fabrics interweaving, intertwining and interlooping. All three methods...

Weft knitted stitches described so far have been composed entirely of knitted loops. A knitted loop stitch is produced when a needle receives a new loop and knocks-over the old loop that it held from the previous knitting cycle. The old loop then becomes a needle loop of normal configuration. Other types of stitch may be produced on each of the four-needle arrangement base structures by varying the timing of the intermeshing sequence of the old and new loops. These stitches may be deliberately...

On circular knitting machines, higher productivity involves faster needle movements as a result of an increase in the number of knitting feeds and of machine rotational speeds. On fabric machines, the machine revolutions per minute have almost doubled and the number of feeders have increased twelve-fold over the past 25 years, so that as many as 4000 courses per minute can be knitted on some plain machines, whilst on some high-speed seamless hose machines the tangential speed of the needles can...

Except for the few Griswold type hand-turned machines Fig. 4.4 , all hosiery machines are of the revolving cylinder type. This arrangement offers the advantages of high revolution speeds, a simplified drive, and the possibility of selectively striping-in yarn from stationary packages placed at fixed feed positions around the cylinder. The garment sequence control must, however, be linked by means of cables and rods or electronics , using the shortest possible routes, to the various mechanisms...

The straight bar frame was, at first, the main beneficiary of the huge demand that was unleashed for nylon stockings. This caused machine gauges to become progressively finer, and productivity to rise dramatically, as operations became more automated and efficient and knitting speeds increased. For the circular hose machine, the advent of nylon meant that a combination of stitch- and heat-shaping could now produce a stocking with satisfactory leg-fitting properties, provided ladies' fashion...

Three-thread fleecy was at first knitted as a quality fabric on the no longer viable loopwheel frame. The loopwheel frame was described in detail in the first and second editions of this book, Sections 14.1 and 14.2 . Three-thread fleecy is now produced mainly on single-jerseylatch needle machines in the manner first patented by Lestor Mishcon in the USA in 1937. Pattern wheel selection was used for fleece yarn tucking. The preferred method today is to use a top needle butt and camtrack for...

Figure 3.1 1-7 illustrates the basic action of a needle. Except for the manner in which the hook is closed in this case by pressing the beard , the knitting action is similar for all needles. The arrows indicate the relative movement of the loops along the needles. Whether the needle moves through the loops or the loops are moved over the needle by some other elements depends upon the machine design. 1 The needle is in the so-called rest position, with the previously formed loop a held on its...

Weft knitted fabrics may be approximately divided into single or double jersey 'double-knit' according to whether they were knitted with one or two sets of needles. It may be preferable to include some of these fabrics in separate groupings of underwear and speciality fabrics. Pelerine eyelet, sinker wheel mesh structures, and float plated fabrics are mainly used for underwear whilst high pile and plush fabrics are speciality fabrics. Many of the jacquard structures have already been described...

A drop stitch fault will result if a needle releases its old loop without receiving a new one. Sometimes this technique is used to achieve a press-off on all needles at the end of a garment-length sequence. A drop stitch or press-off stitch is used very occasionally in flat knitting to cause certain loops in a plain structure to be much larger than the rest. Knitting takes place on only one bed of needles and selected needles in the other bed pick up loops that are immediately pressed-off by...

In addition to facilities for garment-length sequence knitting, weft knitting provides unique opportunities for width-wise shaping during knitting, with the sequence being initiated and co-ordinated from the same central control mechanism. The three methods of width shaping are 1 varying the number of needles in action in the knitting width, 2 changing the knitting construction, and Wale fashioning is the normal manner of shaping symmetrically or asymmetrically on straight bar frames Figures...

In order to knit shaped panels or integral garments, it is necessary to meet a number of exacting requirements which can only be achieved with a specially designed fully computerized V-bed flat machine having the characteristics set out in Sections 19.11.1 to 19.11.7. 19.11.1 The shaping control programme The shaping control programme needs to have sufficient memory to include the data for all the parts of a garment, whether integrally knitted or sequentially knitted shaped-pieces, in the...

Normally, all primary elements those directly involved in the knitting action in the same machine are set to the same gauge. It should be noted that the gauge is measured on one needle bed, so a machine of the same gauge but with two needle beds will have a total of twice as many needles as a machine with one bed. The gauge measured at the point of needle location is the same as that at the point of loop formation. The pitch, or distance between one needle and another, is proportional to the...

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all those individuals and organisations who have directly or indirectly contributed towards the publication of this book. Although a full list of names would be too long for publication, I would particularly like to express my gratitude to the following Mr Ralph Innes who first raised the subject of this book and then magnanimously handed over the project to me Mr J. B. Lancashire who meticulously read through much of the draft of the script and made...

Individual element movement particularly of latch needles enables weft knitting machines to produce designs and structures based upon needle selection for loop intermeshing and transfer. This also facilitates the production of garment parts shaped on the knitting machine. Weft knitted loops tend to distort easily under tension and yarn can freely flow from one loop to another that is under greater tension, a characteristic which aids form-fitting and elastic recovery properties Figures 6.6, 6.7...

The term 'hosiery' specifically refers to knitted coverings for the feet and legs, but it may be generically but confusingly applied to all types of knitted goods and fabric. Most hosiery articles are knitted with integral tubular legs and feet. The welts and top are usually knitted first, the foot and toe last. Closing the toe also produces a secure finish. The machines have a master machine control that automatically times and initiates the mechanical and electronic operations, and changes of...

Many factors outlined in the following list have contributed to the success of warp knitting in the production of lace, curtain-net and elastic fabrics The inability of the slow, traditional lace and net machines to meet rapidly expanding demands for these types of fabrics. An availability of fine, strong, uniformly regular, continuous filament yarns ideally suitable for high-speed warp knitting, such as nylon for lace, polyester for curtaining, and elastomeric yarns for elastic laces. The...

Circular engineering cams or high speed eccentrics control the motion of bars of elements which move en masse as single units in Cottons Patent and warp knitting machines. They are attached to a rotary drive shaft situated parallel to, and below, the needle bar. A number of identical cams are positioned along the shaft to ensure correctly aligned movement. The drive is transmitted and adapted via cam-followers, levers, pivots and rocker shafts. One complete 360-degree revolution of the drive...

In the following description, for purposes of simplicity it is assumed that only one needle bar is being employed. Essentially, the principles remain the same for double needle bar machines which are described later in the book Chapter 29 . When the needle bar is observed in plan view from above, it can be seen that the guides of a guide bar are required to execute a compound movement composed of two separately derived motions Figures 23.1 and 23.3 A swinging motion A-A and a shogging movement...

After its introduction in 1946, the two guide bar British-built FNF tricot machine with its tubular compound needles Section 3.16 became, for 10 years, the pacemaker of the industry, with its speed of 1000 courses per minute being more than twice that of contemporary bearded needle machines. It also incorporated many new features such as double eccentric element drive, positive warp let-off, light spring warp tension rails, and carefully-balanced machine parts. However, it required precise...

The sinker loop S in Fig. 5.1 is the piece of yarn that joins one weft knitted needle loop to the next. On bearded needle weft knitting machines, loop-forming sinkers form the sinker loops in succession between the needles - hence the origin of the term sinker loop. On latch needleweft knitting machines, however, the sinker loops are automatically formed as the needles, in succession, draw their new loops. Sinker loops show on the opposite side of the fabric to the needle loops because the...

Early concepts of fabric geometry were based on models having maximum cover, so that adjacent loops touched each other with a constant ratio of stitch length to yarn diameter. Doyle 1 initiated a new approach to fabric geometry by deriving his concepts from an interpretation of experimental data. He showed that for a range of dry, relaxed, plain weftknitted fabrics, stitch density could be obtained using the formula S - ksll2, where S is stitch density, l is loop length and ks is a constant...

Element selection involves three aspects 1 The initiation and presentation of the selection decision, usually as a YES or NO, by the presence or absence of a tooth, a peg, a punched hole or an electronic Fig. 11.3 Mirror repeat needle selection. Fig. 11.3 Mirror repeat needle selection. impulse. Normally, there is a selection in advance of a raising cam, with each feeder course being associated with a particular selection device. 2 The transmission of the selection decisions from the device and...

The term knitting describes the technique of constructing textile structures by forming a continuous length of yarn into columns of vertically intermeshed loops. It relies heavily on the availability of fine, strong, uniformly spun yarn. The term 'knitting' dates from the mid-sixteenth century, earlier words such as the Saxon 'cnyttan' and the Sanskrit 'nahyat' being less precise, indicating that knitting probably evolved from sources such as the experience gained by knotting and Coptic...

Sophisticated fashion tastes have, on occasion, required knitwear garments containing zones of both coarse and fine gauge stitches - which can now achieved on one machine using 'multiple gauges'. This involves a combination of techniques, including half-gauging, using different numbers of yarn ends, intarsia zoning, and blocks of different gauges of needles each working with its corresponding count of yarn and yarn carrier Fig. 19.6 . Stoll have a multi-gauge range The '5.2' with 6-gauge needle...

Single-sided plated plush or terry is a popular leisurewear and sportswear structure that has the form-fitting properties of single jersey and is used in both fabric and sock form. The elongated plush sinker loops are formed over a higher knock-over surface than the normal-length ground sinker loops with which they are plated Fig. 14.4 . The plush sinker loops show as a pile between the wales on the technical back of the fabric. Henkel plush or velour is achieved during finishing, by cropping...

Circular machinery entered hosiery production inauspiciously during the nineteenth century, knitting fabric that was then cut and seamed into cheap 'leg bags', onto which heels, soles and toes were later hand-frame knitted. The development of specifically designed circular hose machines followed from patents such as those of Newton in 1857 and McNary in 1860. These described how seamless heel and toe pouches could be knitted as part of the tubular leg structure by selectively taking needles in...

Marquisette and voile curtain nets, which are both named after woven constructions, are produced with fully-threaded guide bars the front of which makes a pillar stitch Figures 28.10 and 28.11 . Heavier, stronger, but more expensive meshes are made when two inlay bars lap to different extents in opposition to each other Fig. 28.10 . Marquisette has a square mesh Fig. 28.10 whereas voile Fig. 28.11 tends to show diagonal inlays.

Elasticised fabrics have long been used for corsetry, foundation garments, and swimwear, but the introduction of fine-diameter elastane yarns whose elastic exten- sibility and recovery can be 'engineered' to particular requirements has extended the use of these structures into lingerie and active sports and leisure wear. Elasti-cised fabrics are knitted on high-speed raschel and tricot machines as well as in patterned form on multi guide bar lace machines. The main prerequisites of these...

In a warp knitted structure, all ends supplied from the same warp sheet normally have identical lapping movements because each is lapped by a guide attached to the same guide bar Fig. 23.1 . Beams Fig. 23.2 supply the warp sheets in parallel form to the guide bars, whose pattern control determines the timing and configuration of the lapping movements in the form of overlaps and underlaps. The needles intermesh the new overlaps through the old overlaps to form the intermeshed loop structure....

All needle loops or overlaps have four possible intermeshing points Fig. 5.6 -1 and 2 at the head, where the next new loop will be drawn through by the needle, and 3 and 4 at the base, where the loop has intermeshed with the head of the previously formed loop. The intermeshings at 1 and 2 are always identical with each other as are intermeshings 3 and 4 with each other. It is impossible to draw a new loop through the old loop so that its two feet are alternately intermeshed Fig. 5.7 . This...

Overlap movements are normally across only one needle space because two-needle overlaps cause both the warp thread and the needles to be subjected to the severe Fig. 23.4 Warp knitting lapping and chain notation. Fig. 23.4 Warp knitting lapping and chain notation. strain of two simultaneous adjacent knock-over actions. In addition, different tensions on the two loops in the structure adversely affect their appearance. The under-lap between the double overlaps has the appearance of a sinker...

Electro-magnetic needle selection is now available on many types of knitting machines this was first commercially used on circular rib jacquard machines Fig. 11.11 . The electronic impulse that energises an electromagnet is usually assisted by the field of a permanent magnet, and the minute selection movement is then magnified by mechanical means. If all the needles, or a block of needles, were to be simultaneously selected, each would require its own actuator. It is much cheaper to select the...

The stitch cams are located in slots by studs and they may be raised or lowered to a different setting position by moving the stud along the slot Fig. 18.3 . Unless the rate of yarn feed is controlled, the setting of the stitch cam at knock-over will determine the stitch length because it controls the distance the head of the needle descends below the knock-over bit edge from the rest position. The alternating stitch cam settings are indicated by pointers on a calibrated scale on the outside of...

Figure 19.2 illustrates the front F and back bed B cam systems of a Shima Seiki two knitting system model SEC. It is indicated that the cam carriage is traversing Fig. 19.1 Mechanical jacquard selection on a V-bed flat machine. Fig. 19.1 Mechanical jacquard selection on a V-bed flat machine. from right-to-left so that the butts of the knitting elements enter from the left, passing through four systems 1 From the left, the first system is transferring loops from the back bed to the front bed....

A held loop Fig. 9.1 is an old loop that the needle has retained. It is not released and knocked-over until the next, or a later, yarn feed. A held loop can only be retained by a needle for a limited number of knitting cycles before it is cast-off. A new loop is then drawn through it, otherwise the tension on the yarn in the held loop becomes excessive even though there is a tendency to rob yarn from adjacent loops in the same course. Fig. 9.1 Float stitch produced on a latch needle machine....

Spiers produced a successful machine of this type in 1930, termed the Spensa Purl machine. It has a revolving cylinder and internal sinkers and is capable of knitting garment-lengths with a tubular welt and rib border. In 1956, Wildt Mellor Bromley replaced it with the model SPJ, which has an anti-clockwise revolving cam-box, no dividing cams or internal sinkers, and sliders with pointed noses for opening the latches of needles knitting in the opposite cylinder. As well as being mechanically...

The needle loop H L in Fig. 5.1 is the basic unit of knitted structure.When tension in the fabric is balanced and there is sufficient take-away tension during knitting, it is an upright noose formed in the needle hook. It consists of a head H and two side limbs or legs L . At the base of each leg is a foot F , which meshes through the head of the loop formed at the previous knitting cycle, usually by that needle. The yarn passes from the foot of one loop into the foot and leg of the next loop...

The principle of different butt positions is employed in the interlock cam system, where two cam tracks are used Section 7.4.2 . In single-jersey multi-camtrack raceway machines, needle butts may be positioned in one of between 2 and 5 cam tracks that, at every feed position, have fixed but exchangeable knitting, tucking or missing cams. In some machines e.g. jacquard machines , a common top butt is controlled by a stitch cam-track, whereas in high-speed machines the exchangeable cams also...

On certain bearded needletricot machines, the possibility exists of pressing only selected needle beards cut presser work or only pressing beards at selected knitting cycles miss-press work . Cut presser machines are generally in tricot gauges from 12-24 and knit either staple spun yarns or textured yarns for blouses, dress-wear, baby-wear and shawls. The fibre presser blade has sections which are cut away so that needle beards that correspond to these sections are not pressed at that cycle....

Compared with the latch needle, the compound needle is more intricate and expensive to manufacture. Each of its two parts must be separately and precisely controlled during knitting. In circular knitting, yarn feeding is very critical because, if the yarn lands on the tongue, it will not enter the open hook, whereas in latch needle knitting the closing latch will flick the yarn into the hook. It is particularly a problem when knitting multiple tucks. Adjustment of a machine setting is therefore...

Most fully-fashioned and stitch-shaped underwear and outerwear garments, halfhose, and socks have ribbed borders containing a welt sequence that is produced by causing the sets of needles to act independently of each other after the 1 x 1 rib setup course. When the rib border is to be knitted in 2 x 2 rib, the needle bed is either shogged to form a skeleton 1 x 1 rib needle arrangement or it is knitted on a normal 1 x 1 rib needle set-out followed by rib loop transfer to achieve 2 x 2 rib for...

The principle of magazine weft insertion Fig. 27.8 is to supply, for example, 18 or 24 ends of yarn from a stationary creel to an insertion carriage. With a weft insertion speed of 6500m min, the speed of the weft yarn will be only 320m min because multiple wefts are simultaneously being laid onto the conveyor to be fed individually to the knitting machine. The carriage traverses across the back of the machine, laying the weft yarns in parallel form onto the receiving pins of two magazine...

Cardigan stitches are two-course repeat tuck rib knitwear structures, widely used in the body sections of heavy-weight stitch-shaped sweaters. The tuck stitches cause the rib wales to gape apart so that the body width spreads outwards to a greater extent than the rib border. The tuck loops increase the fabric thickness and make it heavier in weight and bulkier in handle, although the rate of production in rows of loops will be less than for normal 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 rib. The greater the proportion...

The fine smooth filaments in plain knit ladies' hosiery structures make them very susceptible to laddering. It is therefore important to reduce this tendency without impairing either the appearance or the extension and recovery properties of the structure too greatly 2 . Any stitch that reduces the likelihood of one loop being withdrawn through another for example tight knitting , or that spreads the tension knitting on alternate needles , will produce ladder-resist properties from the end...

The straight bar frame is, with a number of later improvements and developments, recognisable as a direct descendant of William Lee's hand frame. Credit for the development of the first acceptable power-driven rotary frame is given to Samuel Wise who, in 1769, replaced the foot pedals with a power-driven rotary shaft whose tappets caught against arms and levers to move the working parts. To increase productivity it was necessary to simplify the knitting action and introduce automatic mechanisms...

Figure 17.2 shows the cross-section of the knitting head containing the following elements A Bearded needle, having a cranked end for location in the tricked and drilled needle bar. B Sinker - only one between every other needle space - with a reinforced back and, at the front, a 'catch' to sink the yarn around the needles, and a 'neb' to separate the old and new loops until knock-over. C Divider, occupying each remaining space, usually having the same shaped front as the sinker but with an...

'The Reverend' William Lee 'of Calverton in Nottinghamshire' is generally credited with inventing the stocking hand frame in 1589. 'The advance it represented, by mechanising complex hand movements at a single stroke, was 150-200 years in advance of its time.' 5 The concept of its operation was so brilliant that, through an evolutionary process of technical refinement, modification and innovation by many inventors throughout the world over the succeeding centuries, it laid the foundations for...

When using either open or closed laps there are three possible arrangements of lapping at successive courses, which may be used alone or in combination 1 The pillar stitch. In the pillar or chain stitch, the same guide always overlaps the same needle. This lapping movement will produce chains of loops in uncon nected wales, which must be connected together by the underlaps of a second guide bar. Generally, pillar stitches are made by front guide bars, either to produce vertical stripe effects...

1 As the guides swing through the needles to start their next overlap, the back guide bar is first to lay its underlap on the technical back Fig. 25.2 and the front bar is the last, so its underlaps lie on top on the back of the fabric Fig. 25.3 . 2 The front bar thread is the first to strike the needle on the return swing after the overlap Fig. 25.4 and as its bar swings furthest to the front of the machine, it tends to occupy a lower position on the needle. If this position is retained it...

There are two types of latch needle - friction and frictionless. Friction needles have a slight flex, crimp or bend in the tails so that they contact the side-walls of the tricks in which they are housed. They are used in open-cam systems, where cams may be introduced or taken out of action to divert the needle path. Frictionless needles are employed in closed cam-tracks that have guard or safety cams on the opposite side to the knitting cams to produce a completely enclosed track, through...

Shima Seiki launched their patented WholeGarment technique at ITMA'95 with two different V-bed models, each having unique features. These involve integrally and seamlessly knitting a complete tubular garment on a V-bed rib machine. A new feature of this technique is the ability to knit tubular rib with a high wale density and therefore improved extensibility and appearance. WholeGarment knitting removes or reduces the need for subsequent making-up and in some cases cutting operations,...

All rectilinear needle bar machines have a front and a back. The front of the machine is the side to which the fabric is drawn away, removed and inspected during knitting. If the machine has a single vertical needle bar, its hooks will face towards the back. If the machine has two vertical needle bars, the fabric will be drawn down between them and will then pass underneath one needle bar the front bar and will be removed from that side of the machine. On warp knitting machines, the guide bars...

Queenscord has even greater rigidity than sharkskin. Because the front guide bar makes the shortest possible underlap, the pillar stitch tightly ties-in the back bar underlaps giving the fabric a shrinkage of only 1-6 per cent. The pillar stitch yarn as it passes up the wale tends to give a slight cord effect and the underlaps of the pillar are unable to balance the underlaps of the back bar so they show inclined overlap stitches Fig. 25.7 . Fig. 25.7 Technical back of queenscord fabric. Fig....

An integral garment is one whose various parts have been knitted and knit-assembled by the knitting machine. It thus requires minimal make-up attention on leaving the knitting machine. Integral garment knitting lowers make-up costs including cutting , shortens throughput times, reduces work in progress and provides the opportunity to introduce new styling features. The knitting machines, however, are more complex and expensive and may be more restrictive in their operation and patterning scope....

When the needles are in the lowered position during the warp knitting cycle, a so-called 'open shed' effect is created at the back of the machine. It is then possible for a weft yarn, laid across the full width of the machine, to be carried forward by special weft insertion bits over the needle heads and deposited on top of the overlaps on the needles and against the yarn passing down to them from the guide bars. In this way, the inserted weft will become trapped between the overlaps and...